This weeks ROTW is a home-grown NA6 from Australia’s northern state … Queensland. Charlie, The owner bought this car early this year in stock form, Fast forward a few months and this is what Charlie has turned his Roadster into, It doesn’t seem like he is planning on slowing down either!

“The reason I wanted to buy a mx5 in the first place was when I was just browsing the JDMST forum looking at the pic thread and falling in love with the low and wide look most of the dope MX5’s have today. From then on I knew I had to have one and started researching about them, even planning out what I was going to do if/when I got one”.

“I saw one for sale and instantly put my car for sale as well. I finally sold my car and took the 5 for a test drive and straight away everything that I read was true, So I bought it”.

It’s amazing how stubble touches can really change how a car looks, particularly an NA Roadster. Charlie’s NA6 is wearing a Garage Vary front lip, Autokonexion rear spoiler and A set of M2 runabout mirrors. The mirrors were out of coincidence really, You see someone kicked a soccer ball into Charlie’s drivers side mirror, And he thought instead of replacing it, He’ll go for the set of mirrors he always wanted.

Those gold wheels really work well against the car hey? They are a set of Axis OG OldSkools, With 15×8 +25 sizing. Charlie wasn’t completely happy with the offset though, So he recently bolted a set of 15mm spacers on all four hubs, Effectively making the wheels +10 in offset. A set of Kumho KU31 tyres with 195/50 sizing, Are wrapped around the OG’s.

The overall stance of the car wouldn’t have been achievable if it weren’t for the BC racing coilovers that Charlie installed. These coils are proving to be the best bang for your buck out there, Offering a great monotube design that offers vast adjustments of damping and height, At a rather small price.

Interior modifications on Charlie’s NA6 have been kept minimal so far. Only the necessities have been changed. A Sparco Sprint currently replaces the driver’s seat, A Skunk2 gear knob helps improve shifting feel, And 330mm Nardi Classic replaces the tired, Worn OEM Momo steering wheel.

Charlie hasn’t left a stone unturned with his Roadster. With the plan of his MX-5 seeing the track occasionally, Charlie has started stiffening up the chassis. A front strut brace, Whiteline sway bar and pair of Boss Frog “Frog Arms” stiffen the front end. A MX5 Plus torque box roll bar help stiffen the cabin, And another Whiteline sway bar along with a Flyin’ Miata subframe brace tighten up the rear end.

Looking at the above picture, Your probably wondering what or rather, Why that big P is hanging on Charlie’s roll bar. Well, Down under it’s a compulsory item for new drivers and it needs to shown on the car at all times if you are a “Provisional” driver (That’s what the P stands for). Lucky for Charlie, He only has one more year left until he is no longer a “P Plater”.

With Roadsters dropping in price over here, It’s only a matter of time until the world will see more dope MX-5’s coming from down under.

“For future plans I was starting to get a turbo kit, And started piecing the parts together (Ie. Diff etc). But due to a loss of license I’m thinking aobut doing a full exhaust, A little more suspension work then just track it more. I would like to be able to get to the limits of the car, Before adding more power”.

Remember guys, We are always looking for new Roadsters to feature, so if you have a killer Roadster you would like to see on RoadsterGarage.net, then shoot us an email at roadstergarage@live.com.au

The car was first bought in 2002 as a totally standard silver MX5 (eunos roadster).

It stayed standard for a few months until the wheels were changed to some 15-inch Kahn 5 spokes. At the time 17’s were in fashion so it got some new shoes in the form of some Lenso deep dish split rims. These looked great but didn’t do much for the handling as it’s now well-known that the Mx5’s run better on 14 or 15 inch alloys.

Being only a 1.6 the power needed looking at. I was soon hooked on USA websites and forums searching through the articles on DIY forced induction – especially turbo conversions. Mazda has worked with BBR in the early 1990s to produce a factory turbo mx5 but these were very rare and very expensive. I set myself a challenge to do my own DIY turbo conversion, most people laughed and told me it couldn’t be done, but I set out to prove them wrong. It was hard work gathering info but a great project to do.

The basis of the conversion is a T25 hybrid (half Renault 5 turbo and half Mitsubishi eclipse) made from two turbos to form a great spooling, responsive unit. This sits on an imported Corksport manifold from the USA. The downpipe and exhaust are custom, part made by myself and a local welding firm. An escort RS turbo air filter and Rover 200 intercooler were used in the conversion. Fuelling was basic in the form of an AFPR from the USA later replaced with GREDDY EMANAGE and then a Megasquirt ECU. From start to finish it took approx a year of planning and parts gathering before the turbo was running. It was at this stage that a new business idea was born. Universal-Intercoolers.

As standard these engines are great for FI as they share many components of the Mazda 323 turbo car! The turbo was running approx 6 psi and made circa 170 bhp. Not bad for a homebrew setup.

The car acquired various body kit parts like side skirts, front bumpers as it moved through the years – going from the ‘big wheels’ and body kits to the small track day focussed look.

The wheels have changed quite a few times as well as the owners! I sold and bought the car back (twice) before owning it now. It first went to London where it lived for a few years, then I had it back. I then sold it again and it went to live in Newcastle. In between the Mx5 which now had the name of ‘mexy’ I had a few lotus elises, Vauxhall VX 220’s but nothing could match the fun factor of this little car.

I had a message from a forum member telling me it was back for sale again early 2008. It took me best part of 5 minutes to decide to do the trip to Newcastle and buy it back. The car was still the same car but hadn’t been looked after that well and was getting a bit tired. A deal was done from the same person I had sold it to a few years back and it was home again..

It was then that I decided to transform and rebuild it again and refresh the tired parts. The Car was stripped and repainted in the very bright Focus RS white in 2 pack paint. I took my time in painting the car. It was the first time I’ve ever painted a full car before so was a steep learning curve. The doors were removed to paint the door shuts. I also fitted the wide arches to the car which would allow me to run the wider low offset wheels which I imported from the USA. These were re painted to the colour they are now. A small spoiler was bonded onto the boot lid and smoothed in. I painted and did all the prep work myself inc cutting the original metal wheel arches, bonding on the new parts and skimming the doors to remove the swage lines.

A megasquirt ECU was built for me by a good friend of the Mx5 Nutz forum (thanks John) from a kit we imported from USA. This allowed the standard ECU to be removed and also the Air flow meter, giving more power and an even better induction roar! The engine bay was stripped and repainted white. I took the opportunity to design a new intercooler system for the car as I own Universal-Intercoolers.co.uk. This was neater and shorter pipe run than the first intercooler design done years ago. The engine now has larger injectors, a wideband kit to allow better control of fuelling and also runs 11psi boost. This should help to make around 200+bhp.

Mexy is now the demo car for Universal Intercoolers which I can test new Mx5 parts on before selling them. I sell full intercooler kits for the Mx5 turbos now, as well as the wide arches and other mx5 parts.

I also did a wire tuck to tidy the engine bay up. Some engine bay parts were removed or hidden to allow a cleaner engine bay look. The washer bottle was removed as it used to get a bit hot sat next to the glowing turbo! The turbo was rebuilt at the same time with fresh bearings and seals. A new ali radiator was fitted as well as other engine parts like silicone hoses and standard service items. I changed the cam belt, water pump and seals one weekend too. The cam cover has been painted in the same white used for the body.

Gaz coilovers were fitted to the freshly powder coated wishbones with new poly bushes.

I stripped the parts down, had them powdercoated, and then pressed the bushes back into the parts. Hard work but they now look and feel new, and will hopefully last another 20 years!

My fave part of the car is the Bride Bucket seat and genuine bride runner. These took months of searching to find and suit the car really well. The interior is basic and is suited to ‘track style’ – no radio or anything that isn’t needed. A roll cage was also fitted to help make the shell stiffer and also offer some protection In the event of a roll. A carbon gauge pod and Mazda speed steering wheel finish the car off nicely without being over the top.

I’m hoping to get some track time this year at Oulton park and some drifting sessions with the ‘Mazda on track’ group.

If anyone is interested in owning an MX5 they are very easy to work on and parts are cheap and readily available. A great online forum called MX5 Nutz is the best place to start for info and help. There are some very knowledgeable friends on there who know the cars inside out and are more than happy to lend a hand with repairs / tuning / and general mx5 help. What ever you are into there are lots of ways you can tailor a mx5 to make it you own from wheels, kits, power upgrades, suspension etc or you can just enjoy the great little car standard.

As a FYI, this car and the turbo conversion kicked off the basis of my Intercooler business. I couldn’t find anyone making a reasonably priced kit for the Mx5 turbos.

I imported one intercooler from USA, and then sold it to buy 2, they sold and before long I had started importing them by the 100’s and Universal Intercoolers was born. I then developed the Mx5 turbo kit for myself which grew to supplying them all over the world.

This Weeks Roadster Of The Week is from Manila, Philippines. Where Marlon has transformed this NA6 into something, pretty special.

“Since the Roadster’s debut in the Philippines way back in 1996 I was fascinated by how the car made an impression on me when I first took a glance at it in a local dealership. I still remember how I first sat on the driver’s seat, held the shifter and how I wanted to drive that Roadster out of the dealership. As the years went by, I still longed for that true roadster experience which I only read about. So when the opportunity came to shop for another project car, I definitely set my eyes on a Roadster.”

This Black NA6 has been widened thanks to the Tuckin 99 N2 flares that are bolted to the guards. The wheels that have been left to fill the massive guards are none other than the Work Equip 01’s. These wheels happen to be 15×7.5 in sizing, and offsets in – 12 and -22. That front lip on the car is from the retro tuner shop, Trap.

The interior has been pampered with various KG works parts, consisting of Chrome door handles with cups, Interior light, A/C control panel and switches, and an awesome engine start sequence just to name a few. But that’s not all, the fabrics have been taken care of Nakamae. Shifting and steering have been taken care of Mazdaspeed, The seating is handled by Bride, and instrumentation is looked after with Autometer Phantom series gauges.

” The Roadster has been with me since March of 2005. Although there were available Roadsters here as they were distributed locally, I settled for a Japanese import. The locally distributed (used) Roadster costs almost double (around $11,500USD) that of the Japanese import (around $6,000USD). I figured the money saved on purchasing a locally distributed Miata would just be spent on modifications instead. So I chose the imported model as platform for my modifications.”

The engine … It’s very far away from stock as you can see, and only the best parts are resting in this Roadsters engine bay. It has now been boosted, thanks to a T3 turbo and it now produces 205whp (153RWKW) @ 6200rpm. In order to make such power on the little 1.6 litre engine Marlon has increased fueling with bigger injectors, fuel pump and an Aeromotive Fuel Pressure Regulator. He has also opted for a 3 inch exhaust system, which helps reduce back pressure and increase power. The turbo setup is tuned by a Greddy Emanage Blue.

No stone has been left unturned on this black beast, It features Tein flex coilovers, various Cusco tie bars, Ultra racing rear torsion bar, Beatrush front strut brace, new bushes a Flyin Miata butterfly brace and a Hard Dog M2 Roll Bar. All of these items have dramatically increased the chassis stiffness of Marlon’s NA6T.

“So the journey began, after five years this is what it has transformed into. I may have a few modifications in mind but basically this is what I had envisioned at the time I first got the Roadster. Modesty aside, the commendation and approval it garners now from enthusiasts and non-enthusiast alike, rewards the hours of man-labor put into making this Roadster. While I have others to thank for but if I may say, I consider this Roadster a truly unique piece in my own way.”

No doubt this is one Roadster, you would not get tired of looking at, all those quality parts we all dream of, have been united with Marlon’s NA6 to create, one remarkable Roadster.

Remember guys, We are currently looking for new Roadsters to feature, so if you have a killer Roadster you would like to see on RoadsterGarage.net, then shoot us an email at roadstergarage@live.com.au.

It’s that time of the week again, and yet another CR.Net Miata graces the Roadster Of The Week pages.

Phil, bought his Miata 2 years ago, stock as a rock. However, that did not last long at all.

The noticable modifications that Phil have made to his NA, would be the dope 13×8 smoor racing wheels (with 25mm spacers effectively making the final offset negative 25) , and Autokonexion type 1 flares.

I don’t know if you’ve tried ( I know I haven’t) , but I don’t think many cars can actually fit under a Semi Trailer, unless they are pretty damn low, Phil’s NA is just that it’s so low, that it can do this with ease, as you can see. He can thank his Stance coilovers for being able to go so damn low.

The Roadster isn’t all show, he managed to do an 1.8 litre engine swap. Along with that it is running a custom Chikara stainless steel exhaust, intake and Maruha carbon fibre timing cover. Cooling has been aided with a Koyo radiator, Samco silicone hoses and Maruha long stroke thermostat.

In the Interior department, Phil is running a Bride Exas III seat on custom Chikara rails, Nardi steering wheel, NRG quick release and Takata harness. Shifting is improved by a Fuji Racing short shifter. He also stripped the interior, and installed a harddog DD roll bar, Phil decided to weld it to the car for extra rigidity and reassurance.

Unfortunately Phil needed a daily driver, and he sold this slammed Miata to obtain one. He does hope to get back into a Miata one day though, and I can’t wait to see what he does to the next one. Congratulations Phil, you are this weeks ROTW!